Jhapa झापा

Jhapa is the flat, fertile far-eastern district where Nepal meets West Bengal, its paddy fields and tea gardens running up to the Mechi River border crossing at Kakarbhitta — the eastern terminus of the Mahendra Highway and the country's busiest overland entry point from Darjeeling and Siliguri. Bhadrapur, on the Mechi River, holds the nearest airport and the archaeological site of Kichakavadh, where excavations have uncovered brickwork and artefacts from a settlement of more than two thousand years ago. Birat Pokhari, a cluster of seven lakes near Birtamod, and the Arjundhara temple — a major Shiva pilgrimage site 5 km north of Birtamod — are the district's other main draws.

Jhapa is one of Nepal's most economically productive Terai districts, with tea, cardamom and jute alongside the cross-border trade that flows through Kakarbhitta and Birtamod. Its population mixes hill migrants, indigenous Jhangad communities and long-settled Brahmin-Chhetri farmers. Most travellers pass through quickly on the way to Ilam's tea hills or the eastern trekking regions, though the flat, low-altitude terrain and direct access to Darjeeling make it a useful base for those approaching Nepal from the east.